Morning Minute 3/19/24:
“From Poverty to Excellence! An American Story!”
Clarence was born in the small village of Pinpoint.
It was 1948, in the segregated South. Pinpoint was a small community outside of Savannah, GA. settled by freed slaves after the Civil War. His first language was Gullah, not English.
Clarence, his siblings, and their mother lived in a tiny house. His parents divorced in 1950, when his father abandoned them. They lived on the ten dollars a week his mother earned as a maid. After a fire destroyed the house, Clarence was sent to live with his mother’s father, Myers Anderson.
Myers Anderson was a successful black business owner in Savannah. Clarence called him “Daddy” because he was the only father he ever knew. His grandfather instilled in him the discipline, honesty, and hard work that would guide him throughout the rest of his life. He attended all-Black Catholic schools.
After 2 years at St. Pius X High School, he transferred to St. John Vianney Seminary, seeking to become a Catholic priest. Clarence was one of only two black students. In spite of insults and slurs, he graduated in 1967. Continuing his goal to become priest, he was accepted at Conception Seminary in Missouri. After a year, he abandoned his pursuit of the priesthood, transferring to Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1971. He earned his law degree in 1974 at Yale.
After being rejected by a prestigious law firm in Atlanta, Clarence worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. During this time, he was influenced by economist Milton Freeman, and black leaders, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams. His views on busing and affirmative action put him at odds with many prominent black leaders. In 1979, he joined the office of Missouri Sen. John Danford as his legislative assistant.
In 1981, President Reagan appointed him as assistant secretary for Civil Rights in the Education Dept. While there, his activities put him at odds with many black civil rights leaders. In 1982, Reagan nominated him to be Chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission. After his confirmation, he reorganized this Commission, working through their massive backlog of cases, while actively pursuing actions against racial discrimination. He served with distinction for two terms.
Clarence was appointed to the US District Court of Appeals in 1991, When Justice Thurgood Marshall retired at the end of that year, Clarence was nominated to replace him on the US Supreme Court. After a very contentious hearing in the Judiciary Committee, his nomination was referred to the full Senate. Clarence was approved in a 52-48 vote. He still serves there with distinction. He is Justice Clarence Thomas.
Justice Clarence Thomas, despite his disadvantaged childhood, while suffering through racial discrimination, has achieved great personal and professional success.
Clarence Thomas is a true American success story!
That is today’s Morning Minute.
Morning Minute 3/22/24:
“Truth, Morality, & Transparency!”
These requirements supporting individual freedoms are enshrined in our Constitution.
TRUTH: Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and our ability to hold those in power accountable, are protected by the First Amendment. These freedoms require those in government, and those governed by them, to be truthful with each other.
Truth is the first freedom lost to tyranny. Without truth, there is no trust. When a citizen lies under oath, that person is charged with perjury. When citizens deal with untruths from government on one issue, it creates a distrust in government on all issues.
For instance, a government report shows 350,000 new jobs were created last month. Three weeks later, that number is revised downward to 235,000. The media reports the first number, ignoring the downward revision. If it happens once, we may believe it was an honest mistake. However, since it happens every month, we begin distrusting all these reports.
When we discover that government is pressuring both broadcast and social media to omit information that showcases their incompetence or their corruption, we lose trust in both our government and our media. Truth Dies in Darkness.
MORALITY: One of our founding fathers, John Adams, shared; “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people…Morality and virtue are the foundation of our republic, and necessary for a society to be free.” It is not possible for a free society to survive in the face of rampant immorality.
Slavery is evil. It’s existence here could not forever coexist with freedom. It required a 4 year long Civil War, 3 amendments to the Constitution, and over 600,000 dead citizens to remove this evil from our country.
Confucius once shared: “The foundation of society is a disciplined individual in a disciplined family.” A family consists of a parents and children. The family is the basic building block in a society, especially a free society. The evolution from freedom to tyranny requires the destruction of the family unit. Undisciplined, dishonest, and immoral people destroy families with infidelity, dishonesty, selfishness, and greed.
TRANSPARENCY: The lack of transparency in people and relationships, creates distrust, immoral behavior, a lack of respect for each other, and the breakdown of society. All these are necessary for tyranny to replace freedom.
When there is no transparency in government, corruption, and incompetence lead to tyranny. As tyranny grows, government’s reach and power increases, until no dissent is tolerated. It enables the rewriting of history, government persecution of citizens they see as enemies, and rampant lawlessness.
To regain those freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, we must demand Truth, Morality, and Transparency, both from those in government, and from ourselves!
“Truth, Morality, & Transparency!”
That is today’s Morning Minute!